Elizabeth Banks was floating down a river in Utah when she first saw Archer Roose Wines fitting into her life. The Pitch Perfect star and Cocaine Bear director cracked open a can of sparkling rosé and sipped with a group of friends under a wide-open blue sky.
She’d been pitched on a potential partnership with the burgeoning canned wine brand and decided to take the leap, signing on as a part owner and chief creative officer in 2021.
At ADWEEK’s flagship annual event, Brandweek, in Atlanta, Banks joined the brand’s founder and CEO Marian Leitner-Waldman, to recount their shared journey of breaking into a buttoned-up wine industry with a relaxed new concept, and their plans for bringing canned wines to the masses.
At the heart of their business proposition: the idea that wine need not be snooty, but can be a casual beverage that fits into everyday moments at movie theaters, baseball games, and in-flight.
“My dad worked in a factory [when I was] growing up. My mom worked in a bank. We did not drink fancy wine,” Banks said onstage. “I did not know how to pronounce the word ‘sommelier’ until I was well into adulthood, and I always felt a little intimidated by wine.”
In everything from packaging to distribution, Archer Roose is trying to upend archaic ideas about wine culture. Its marketing is a core part of this effort.
“What does a wine ad look like? Close your eyes and think about it. It’s an older couple, and they’re walking through a vineyard, and the sun is setting behind them. They’ve got a goblet of red or something, and it’s called some French word, and they’re talking about terroir,” Banks joked.
In partnership with Leitner-Waldman, Banks has taken a drastically different approach. In a handful of campaigns launched since Banks’ entry into the company, the comedian and actor plays an exaggerated, out-of-touch version of her A-list self, a foil to Leitner-Walman’s businesslike personality.
Banks not only leads Archer Roose Wines’ marketing efforts, but has become a key business leader, working with Leitner-Waldman to ink deals with Princess Cruises, Target, and JetBlue, while drawing inspiration from the spirits industry to better inform the company’s distribution practices.